Faith In Action (Sarah Scott)

Acts 1:1-11; James 2:14-26

Over the last five weeks we have been discussing how Jesus revealed himself in the 40 days after his resurrection. We have faced some tough questions about why we believe and how we can challenge ourselves to step out in ministry.  We asked ourselves if we put anything in our lives before Jesus and just last week we looked at how hospitable we are to a stranger, because can we ever really be sure that its not Jesus. All of these lessons Jesus reminded us of as we face today, the last day that he would spend on earth and with his parting words told the disciples to go out and be his witness.

As I started to prepare for this sermon today I was all over the map trying to decide what to speak to. I had a lot of choices, Ascension Sunday, Mother’s Day…almost anything I wanted to speak to. But I was given some wise advice, speak to something that you feel passionate about and that’s on your heart. Over the last 5 weeks my father and I have been taking the basic lay servant course for the united Methodist church which in essence provides leaders in the church some basic knowledge and tools to help them in their ministry. As we have been going through this, as you can imagine, my father and I spoke a lot about how what we learned there would apply to Rotterdam. Almost every time I was coming back to the idea of faith in action. How do we do more outside of the church walls to show the world our faith? And it must be a message that God feels we need as he not only laid it on my heart, but on pastor karen’s heart as well as it will be the focus of her upcoming sermon series. As I continued to ponder this and looked back over the lessons from the last several weeks, I could see where Jesus was preparing the disciples to do just that.

The disciples didn’t have a church building to hold on to. A common place for people to gather to feel safe and know that everyone believed the same thing. They had to go out into the world, they needed to continue Jesus’s ministry and convince people that the scriptures were true. How scary that must have been. Think about it, the further the disciples travelled the less people knew about who Jesus was and what message he delivered (if you read a little further in Acts (Acts 1:15) it says that the believers only numbered 120).  It was up to them, to not only remember the message but to demonstrate acts of faith. I can’t even begin to imagine, how would the beginning of that conversation go?

So fast forward a few thousand years to today. The disciples must have done their job well as the name of Jesus is known throughout the world, whether or not you believe, you know who he is and know about some of his works. So wouldn’t you think that this situation would make it easier for us to make disciples of Christ? Why do we now find it so much easier to have faith than to act on that faith? What stands in our way?

I pondered this for a long time trying to figure it out. Some of the reasons that came to mind were a lack of time, selfishness or even a simple fear of how people might react.

Time is so precious to us. As a mother of two young kids with a full time job and volunteer work, I’m never sure where the 24 hours in every day actually goes. I still can’t figure out how to fit in friends and family most of the time, let alone time for someone I don’t know.

And even if I did find the time, we are all so focused on ourselves that I wonder if anyone would even notice if I tried to reach them. Have you ever really noticed how many people keep their heads buried in their phones? Have you noticed how many people either don’t hold open a door or don’t acknowledge those that do, simply because they don’t pay attention to what is going on around them. We have so many ways to block out the world, to ensure that we don’t have to make a connection with another living soul…even when you are in a room of 100 people.

And then, lets say I found the time and another soul that wanted to connect…what on earth would I then do or say? How do I demonstrate my faith? Do I simply state it “Hi I’m a Christian” .. or do I start quoting scripture…”For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. John 3:16”….or maybe I just out and invite them to church….how would they react if I did that? Would they even hear me? And if I didn’t come out and make it so plain, would another action be recognized as an act of faith?

Let me give you an example from my own life, where I think I can show all three road blocks. I am a women of faith and when the Holy Spirit calls me to take action within the church I am all over that! Start a new program, create this event, put us out on the web and social media…no problem! But when the Holy Spirit calls me to take action outside of our congregation I have a hard time listening. As some of you might know, I work from home, my office window faces the street so I have become the world’s noisiest neighbor. The past Halloween my neighbor put out a teal pumpkin. I thought it was interesting so I did some research and found that the teal pumpkin is a signal to parents that the home offers non-candy treats (for kids with severe allergies). I thought, wow this is really cool…until one day I noticed a second pumpkin with the cancer ribbon on it. As the weeks began to pass I noticed more and more activity at the house, people dropping in to walk their dog, flowers being delivered, food being dropped off. So my next conclusion was that some had recently passed in their family. But soon the activity continued for a lot longer than a passing would have typically warranted. Eventually I saw my neighbor and it began to make sense, she had lost weight and her head was wrapped in cloth to keep her head warm after she lost her hair. She was suffering from cancer and was undergoing treatments. Once I put it all together I did a little research to find that teal was the color for ovarian cancer.  It occurred to me that as a neighbor I wanted to provide her with some kind of support so I went to the prayer shawls and found one in the teal color….it still sits in my house. I have not been able to put my faith in action and why? Out of fear, how will she react, what will she think since she didn’t actually ever share this very private news with me, what if I was wrong??

I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own road blocks, but Jesus doesn’t let us off the hook for those reasons – “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me.” Matthew 25:45. Am I denying Jesus because I did not reach out to provide comfort to my neighbor? But I believe and I have faith….I don’t want to deny Jesus.

The scripture from James is so brutally honest about this (after all he was Jesus’s half-brother) As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2:26.  In other words, one cannot exist without the other so if we want to make it to the kingdom of heaven then we better find ways to combat all those excuses we have. Thankfully the bible can help us with that and can provide us with some amazing examples along the way.

When faced with the issue of time we can turn to Paul’s word in Ephesians 5: 15 – 17

¹⁵ Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,¹⁶ making the most of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 

Because that’s the heart of it isn’t it? We need to live our lives in accordance with God’s will. And if we listen and understand what God’s will is for us, even how it relates to what we do for other people, we will always have the time to do what is asked of us and we will be rewarded for doing so, after all we can look to the example of the five talents to show us what happens when we wisely invest in God’s will.

When facing the world’s selfishness we need only look to Matthew 7:12 for guidance:

 ¹² “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Could you only imagine it? A world where everyone followed this rule all the time! How much nicer of a world could it be? If it started with each of us I’d like to believe an on looker would see it and do the same. There is a whole commercial series our there that does just that and I cry every time I see it because by the time we get to the last person the momentum has grown that he actually saves someone’s life. Of course we have the greatest of all selfless examples provided to us in the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25 – 37).

We have now faced down two of our biggest obstacles, but for me, I know I’m the kind of person who puts a high value on how others perceive me. Trying to get over my fear of the unknown (how will they react, what should I say / do, what will they think of me) is almost impossible, but the scripture from Isaiah is one of the most powerful for me:

I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

¹¹ “All who rage against you
    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;
those who oppose you
    will be as nothing and perish.
¹² Though you search for your enemies,
    you will not find them.
Those who wage war against you
    will be as nothing at all.
¹³ For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
    I will help you.

I realize this passage goes well beyond just facing my fears of showing an act of kindness to another person, but if god can remove my enemies he can certainly help to open the mind of a person that he has sent me to show his love to.

There are so many biblical examples that we can turn to when it comes to fear, but what about the real world examples? What about the young man who is teaching a homeless women to read and get back on her feet in Florida, all because she asked nothing else from him but wished him a good day. Or what about the gate agent at the airport who noticed an older couple and moved their reservations to they would have more time at the next airport (also knowing that later flights were starting to be delayed), the couple asked for nothing, the gate agent simply put himself in their shoes. Or what about someone like me, who noticed a crippled women at the book sale and offered her the extra canvas bag I was carrying around to help make her journey easier?

The truth is every act done in faith is enough. We don’t need to shout it from the rooftop or be able to quote scripture. If you go back to look at Jesus’ time in ministry you will find that often times he left his actions speak for themselves. He didn’t continue to preach to the families after he healed. The act alone let them know who he was and those he touched went on to tell about him to others.  We too can have that same impact.

I was inspired by the scripture in James this week that said:

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?

Clearly it is of no good, but what can you do? Today up on the alter I have placed blessing bags. These small bags are filled with essentials for someone on the street that might be in need. Please feel free to take one and keep it in your car in case you come across someone who could use the blessings found within.

As we watch this video I hope it can inspire you to find ways in your everyday life to put your faith in action. Pray about how you can put your faith in action this week and make a few notes for yourself.

Do Something by Matthew West

As the lyrics said:

So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you”

We are all called, every day the Holy Spirit touches our hearts and calls us to action. It could be a big action or it could be something small, but every action will demonstrate your beliefs to the world. All we need to do is listen and believe, know that God is with you in whatever you are called to do and he will open up the pathways for you to accomplish that goal.

This week as I invite you to share a story of how you put your faith in action, or share your story about what happened to your blessing bag so that we might all inspire each other to find more ways to reach out into the world and show them that we are Christians, not just tell them.